Natural casings vs. collagen casings

[Bithlord]

So, my wife and I have had a heck of a time finding a decent butcher in our neck of the woods and haven't had much luck finding a place to get natural casings.

We did a little looking online, and found this: http://www.midwesternresearch.com/CASINGS_COLLAGEN.htm Based on just their site, it seems like the product would be a decent alternative to natural casings.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience in using those types of casings, and if they are any good.

Thanks
--Bith

[BigDave]

Tractor Supply has the natural casing and I have seen them at Academy. Basspro & Cabelas too. They are packed in salt & dried.

I have used the collagen casings before and they are nice for uniformity in size and portion control....that is why commercial mfgs use them.... But, they are easy to overstuff & tear and are quite a bit more expensive than natural casings.

[Bithlord]

Tractor Supply has the natural casing and I have seen them at Academy. Basspro & Cabelas too. They are packed in salt & dried.

We hadn't thought of checking there. I may need to make a run there tonight.

Thanks

[tex_toby]

We tried out some collagen casings earlier this spring at Papa Tom's Sausage Making Party. They were extremely easy to fill up with the stuffer, but they were absolutely a pain to try and twist into links. We wrestled with them for a half hour and all concluded that we would not be using those again...

tex

[Bithlord]

We tried out some collagen casings earlier this spring at Papa Tom's Sausage Making Party. They were extremely easy to fill up with the stuffer, but they were absolutely a pain to try and twist into links. We wrestled with them for a half hour and all concluded that we would not be using those again...

tex

Did they tear when you were trying to twist them, or did the lack of play in the casing not give anywhere for the filling to go when you tried to twist it resulting in them being unable to be twisted?

--Bith

[tex_toby]

We tried out some collagen casings earlier this spring at Papa Tom's Sausage Making Party. They were extremely easy to fill up with the stuffer, but they were absolutely a pain to try and twist into links. We wrestled with them for a half hour and all concluded that we would not be using those again...

tex

Did they tear when you were trying to twist them, or did the lack of play in the casing not give anywhere for the filling to go when you tried to twist it resulting in them being unable to be twisted?

--Bith

You could easily twist them, BUT in order to twist into links you twist clockwise for one link and then counter-clockwise for the next - so on and so forth. After you twist your first link one direction and then try to twist the second link the other direction, the first link comes untwisted. It's next to impossible and very frustrating. We finally ended up using butchers string to tie off each end of each link and vowed to never use collagen casings again.

[CJATE]

i use them to make sticks,,, never really had any issue, but i don't twist into links, just do it in long runs and smoke them like that, then slice once cooked,,,, I bet is is hard to twist them.

[DATsBBQ]

I bought these a while back:
http://www.lemproducts.com/product/3924/Casings" target="_blank" target="_blank
The description:
Contiains:
1ct- 8oz hog casing (does aprox. 20-25lbs)
1ct- 134b 32mm fresh collagen casing (does approx.23lbs)
1ct- 247 19mm mahogany collagen snack stick casing(does appros.7.25lbs)
5ct- 846 collagen rounds (does approx.5-6lbs)
5ct- 126 fibrous 2 1/2 x 20 (does approx. 15lbs)
5ct- 904 collagen middles (does approx. 3-4 lbs)

Great for the person who doesn't know what casing they like.
Cost: $24.99 + shipping

I've used some of the hog casings and the ones that are about 16" for summer sausage. So far, I've been pretty happy.

Since it won't be long till frost is on the pumpkin I've set aside a 8# butt and 2 3# 7-bone chuck roasts in the deep freeze for a sausage run. Haven't decided yet on what kind, but I think Knackworst is definably in there. Some of BWs Genuine Texas hot links too.

[2rowdy]

I have bought a little stuff from this place. A buddy buys alot from them.

http://www.psseasoning.com/

[GrillMaster1]

We produce several hundred pounds of smoked sausage a month at my business, and have dealt with about every imaginable type and producer of casings. In my experience there is nothing like a true, natural hog casing for turning out a sausage with great color and texture. We never use collagen for smoked sausage.

The absolute best casing we have found comes from Dewied International - the big drawback is that they are about the highest price of any other and I'm not sure if they ship in small, home-user quantities. You can also get decent natural casings from Quality Casings, but they split way too much. Also, take into account that we use a hydraulic stuffer and you might have better luck if you are stuffing with a hand-crank setup.

We buy a lot of stuff from Midwest Research - the link you posted. They make a really good summer sausage casing and have some great seasonings.

Hope this helps!